Gay kids were getting bullied. So an NC school called in the drag queens.

Drag Queens and City Council members: Durham charter school gets creative for Pride

Durham's Central Park School for Children invited local drag celebrities and City Council member Vernetta Alston to perform a social-justice focused show at a Pride & Liberation event at The Carolina Theater on May, 13, 2019.
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Durham's Central Park School for Children invited local drag celebrities and City Council member Vernetta Alston to perform a social-justice focused show at a Pride & Liberation event at The Carolina Theater on May, 13, 2019.
By

DURHAM

When eighth-grade teacher Taylor Schmidt realized his LGBT students faced more bullying and other problems than their peers, he decided to call in some unusual help: local drag queens.

Several LGBT students had left Central Park School for Children in Durham because of “incidents of targeting, harassment, and bullying,” he said.

Gowns and glitter

Coxx, the alter-ego of Durham Pride’s lead organizer Justin Clapp, showed off a wardrobe of cocktail dresses and glitter-drenched gowns.

After her first song (“Big, Blonde and Beautiful” from “Hairspray”) she asked the audience of over 200 middle-school students if they were proud of their school.

“You should be proud of Central Park School for Children,” Coxx said. “You have a famous person standing in front of you who wishes I had this experience when I was your age.”

In between Beyoncé and Nikki Minaj songs, Coxx and Daie connected with the students about growing up in Durham and what it was like to feel different, slipping in quick lessons about LGBT history along the way.

For one song, Daie swirled a floor-length skirt, each layer of fabric a different color of the rainbow. Cheers erupted when she pulled the skirt off to reveal a gold jumpsuit and knee-high gold boots.

“Only in my hometown could something like this happen,” said Daie, aka environmental scientist Raafe Purnsley.

The response from the students was overwhelmingly positive.

For each student who sank down into their hoodies, another dozen bounced in their seats or danced in the aisles.

In a survey afterward, a fifth-grader said: “I really, really, loved the Pride and Liberation celebration. I think it really showed and maybe helped others who are LGBTQ+ really see that they are not alone and that they can really express who they are.”

“Durham is very one of the most welcoming communities,” a seventh-grader wrote “but we still do always have more room to be more welcoming.”

Community leaders

The event also featured the school’s step team and a panel featuring Durham City Council member Vernetta Alston and Helena Cragg, executive director of the LGBTQ Center of Durham.

Schmidt and Brooks said the school invited Coxx, Daie, Alston and Cragg because of their leadership as LGBT people of color in the Durham community.

“Everyone, no matter their age, deserves respect for being exactly who they are,” Alston told the Central Park students on Monday.

The Pride & Liberation Event was the finale of a week focused on educating students at the charter school about LGBT history.

In math classes, students learned about Alan Turing, the English mathematician who broke Nazi codes during World War II. In English classes, they studied James Baldwin, the writer and activist whose work highlighted the experiences of black and LGBT Americans. And in science, students learned about Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

Students in kindergarten through fourth grade could also opt into a story hour with Daie. Drag queen story hours have been popping up at school libraries and bookstores across the country since 2015.

Purnsley went to Durham School of the Arts, but he said in an interview that he didn’t fully come out until the summer after his senior year.

“I remember being scared, many times in my high school and middle school experience, to just Google the word ‘gay,’” he said.

“I would have been gobsmacked to go to an assembly and have a drag queen like Vivica C. Coxx tell me that I am someone who is celebrated,” Purnsley said.

National trends

In a letter to parents, Schmidt emphasized what can happen when kids are bullied and harassed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 8.2% of all high school students in North Carolina attempted suicide in 2017, compared to 35% of transgender high school students.

“We don’t just have a right to do something like this,” said John Heffernan, the school’s director. “We really do it as a responsibility.”

Schmidt said he did get some negative reactions, but from outside the school’s community after internal messaging about the event was posted online.

The school gave families the option to not have their children attend the Pride event, and 10 did.

The charter school’s PTA released a letter supporting the event, and Schmidt called the positive response from parents overwhelming.

Brooks, who has also taught in Pitt County, said she has seen students stand up for their LGBT peers recently, a first in her teaching experience.

“That is extremely powerful to be able to do at thirteen, because we have adults who are still learning those skills,” Brooks said.

Schmidt said he appreciated the unique flexibility of his charter school and hopes what they learn can one day benefit other students.

“As a charter school, we believe that our role in North Carolina is to strengthen and support public schools,” Schmidt said. “If this can be a liberatory event where we liberate not just the bullied but the bullies, where every child can be seen and loved, the dream is that this can be provided to other schools as well.”